Friday, July 17, 2009

Our 4th of July

The 4th of July was a great time. We had a very informal barbeque at our house. We made fajitas and April and her family came over. We ate, swam and drank. When it began to get dark, we all dried off and piled in the cars with our lawn chairs and drove out behind our subdivision to watch the fireworks on the lake.

We had a really good spot. Jeff, the kids and I have been watching the city fireworks display from this location since we moved to Little Elm 5 years ago. We are on the side of the lake that is inside city limits. Personal fireworks are not allowed. However, the city has a really nice display and big event called July Jubilee. There are always too many people and it is just too hot in July to try to get downtown and get a spot to park and then wait in the heat for the fireworks to start.
This little spot we found is just 3 blocks from our house and we have a perfect view of the city's show. In addition, the other side of the lake is not inside city limits. There are a lot of personal fireworks that pop all over the lake. We have the perfect vantage point to see them.

We were excited to take April and her family with us to our secret spot. Once there, we set up our chairs and placed a blanket on the ground for Kai, Elli, Maddie, Maycee, Addison and Kennedi. As we sat in anticipation, other cars are pulling in... our secret spot isn't so secret.

One truck pulled in beside us. They were loud and annoying as they piled out of their car with all of their children. They did not seem to have any respect for anyone around them. While this was very aggravating, we ignored it because the fireworks had not started yet so they really weren't hurting anything.

Another truck pulls in moments later and faces this last truck. Both trucks turn on their headlights just as the city fireworks begin. The light is very distracting and is affecting our ability to really see the colors of the fireworks. I look over to see what they are doing just in time to see them lighting a huge string of black cat fireworks. This startles the kids and the rest of our group. Still we do not say anything and the trucks turn off their lights and things seem to quiet down.

As we regain focus on the big fireworks display, I notice these two groups of people are doing something on the dirt road in front of us. I dismiss it and go back to watching. All of the sudden fireworks are firing over the top of, toward us and very loud. They lit some kind of canister full of fireworks. I don't think they realized how close they were firing to our children. The kids were screaming. There was a huge cloud of smoke that billowed up and completely blocked our view of the fireworks.

At this point, I don't remember who spoke first, Jeff, April's dad or Guy, but Jeff said "Hey, would yall mind waiting until the show is over because we can't see through the smoke." This is when the feud began. These people were incredibly rude and continued to curse at us and inform us they were on their property as were we and that we were trespassing. We asked where the property line was. We were half on and half off of this line. We immediately moved our vehichles 5 feet forward so that we were on Army Corp of Engineer's property. We pointed out that if they would shoot their fireworks on their property then it would not be an issue for us. They had actually shot them off on the road which belongs to ACE.

The discussions continued to escalate and they became very threatening. The finale presented and Jeff and I scooped up Kai, Elli, Maddie and Maycee and put them in the back of the Hummer. April called the police. Jeff and I drove the children back home and tried to get them to think about something else. They were clearly upset, excited and shaken about all that they had heard. It was definitely not a place for children to be.

The rest of the group returned to the house. April & Tina (April's mom) were the last to arrive. They informed us that the police came and in perfect time to see those people lighting up fireworks. They were ticketed. The fine is $2000! There is justice!

We did not let this little upset get us down. We drank a little more and played a lot of Rockband. It was so much fun. I was so impressed to see April's mom and dad play right long with us. We all took turns singing and playing different instruments. Guy was cute. He was having a really hard time sharing his time on the drums. Tina really seemed to like the drums and she was good at them too. Guy is used to just the four of us playing all of the time. In that case, he never has to share. I kept reminding him that if he didn't share we would never get anyone else to play with us. He did share but you can tell he was pouting about it.

You can see him in the background pouting here. Aside from the pouting it is also a little endearing in that he can have so much fun playing a game and hanging out with his friends.

The main thing that I love about this photo, though is it is so candid and I think very sweet of April and Robert, her dad.

Here is a picture of Tina on the drums, Ashley on the mic and Guy on the guitar. Tina & Robert thought they were leaving early. I don't think they meant early in the morning, but that is what ended up happening. I believe we played until 2Am or close to it.

The kids played in the other game room on the
Wii and with the air hockey table. We let them play a few songs in the beginning so they were good about leaving us to our game.

We had a great 4th of July. Who could ask for more? We had good food, lots of beer, a little bit of drama and a lot of rockin!



1 comment:

  1. Thanks for having us over! We had a great time!

    And yay for justice :)

    ReplyDelete